MOSCOW, May 7. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he believes his duty and the meaning of life is to do his utmost for the sake of Russia’s present and future.

"While assuming office as Russia’s president, I am acutely aware of my colossal responsibility to each of you, all our multiethnic people, responsibility to Russia, the country of grandiose victories and accomplishments, to millennia-old history of Russia’s statehood and our ancestors," he said at his inauguration ceremony, recalling their courage, tireless work and sacred attitude towards their home country, which serve as an eternal example of devotion to one’s Homeland. "I believe my duty and the meaning of my entire life is doing everything for the sake of Russia, for its peaceful and prosperous present and future, for the sake of preserving and continuing our great people, for the sake of well-being in every Russian family."

"As the head of state, I will do everything to multiply Russia’s strength, prosperity and glory in order to live up to the demands of the society and the hopes of the country’s citizens," the president said. He added that the country had gone through tough times in the 1990s and the early 2000s, adding that "not all wounds have been healed, not all losses and difficulties have been overcome, while life poses new challenges for us, new difficult tasks, and we still have to work hard to address them."

"There is no time to spare. However, we all remember well that over its more than thousand-year-long history Russia was repeatedly confronted with the times of trouble and hardships and it was always born anew like Phoenix, reaching the heights that were unattainable for others. For our country, on the contrary, they became a new springboard and a new historical milestone for the further powerful leap forward," Putin stressed. The head of state was certain that today "we will achieve a break through [as well], because we are one powerful team, which can handle any, even the most difficult tasks."

Sweeping breakthroughs

Russia needs breakthroughs in all the spheres, Putin said.

"We need breakthroughs in all the spheres of life," the Russian president said. "I’m deeply convinced that such a breakthrough can be ensured only by a free society that accepts all new and advanced things and rejects unfairness, stagnation, rigid protectionism and bureaucratic inertia. All that constrains people and impedes them from opening themselves up and fulfilling their potential and their talents and therefore holds back the aspiration of our entire country for the future," the Russian president said.